TRIPLE HELIX noms.pmd

O-022Variations on the Triple Helix ModelTerry Shinn, Anne Marcovich, Cnrs, Paris, FranceVariations on the Triple Helix Model – the Case of Dip-Pen Nanolithography.Thematic domains : S2:Triple Helix study; “The future of Triple Helix study”.Key Words: Expectations, Circulation, Enterprise, Temporality, Societal strandCopyright of the paper resides with the author(s). Submission of a paper grants permission to the 8th Triple Helix InternationalScientific and Organizing Committees to include it in the conference material and to place it on relevant websites. The ScientificCommittee may invite papers accepted for the conference to be considered for publication in Special Issues of selectedjournals.This paper explores four features of Triple Helix dynamics: 1. in the case study of the Dip-Pen Nanolithography researchinstrument and subsequently industrial tool, the changing content of the expectations specific to the university, industrial andgovernmental Triple Helix strand; 2. the changing functions of each strand in the segmented temporal dimension; 3. thedirection, content and purposes of the circulation of knowledge, skills and markets of each strand; 4.the introduction of a fourthstrand in the Triple Helix configuration in this particular instance of university/industry/government interactions, in the form ofsociety as embodied in the “nanofication” of culture. This would suggest the evolution of a Triple Helix into a “four strand helix”model in the face of certain contingencies and under certain constraints. The episode in the recent historyof nanoscale researchreported here extends from 1999 to 2010. The Dip-Pen nanolithography instrument technique originated within the university,rapidly moved to enterprise, and then penetrated society where it finds expression as an economic market, pedagogy, a testingground for performance and applications, and as a spirit. The government strand remains in the background.The Dip-Pen device deposits molecules onto a substrate where multiple compounds measure just a few nanometers. The finalproduct is thus informationally rich. It was announced in an article in Science, today cited over 1,700 times. The Dip-Pen wasfirst introduced as a clever technical solution to inherent difficulties encountered by the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) undercertain operating conditions. It involved academic research on an existing instrument – a form of “research-technology”. Mostfascinating, from the birth of the Dip-Pen, its major architect, professor Chad Mirkin, perceived the experimental device as apromising future tool capable of writing and decoding highly complex nanoscale messages. In his princeps 1999 article, Mirkinsignals expectations for his research instrument which is explicitly linked to the history and culture of writing, and to therelevance of his device to expanding technical horizons of contemporary culture. As will be demonstrated below, this footnotereference anticipated rapid and intense entrepreneurial efforts and a prompt penetration into the societal sphere – the “4th”strand in the triple helix?In 2001 venture capitalists became aware of the Dip-Pen device, judging it worthy of investment. Working closely with Mirkinand his university laboratory, they founded NanoInc Inc. While the academic laboratory had demonstrated the feasibility of theDip-Pen, it remained a laboratory device, incapable of robust operation, standardized production and usage by non-experts. Thequestion remained what were its valid domains of application during this second temporal segment? Progress in these multipleand complex areas entailed close linkage in the form of shared knowledge between the university and enterprise, and theintroduction of economic logics. During this period, exchange between academic laboratories and the new enterprise was fluidand omni-directional. Scientists and engineers moved readily across boundaries and one can speak here of interlacing betweenthe university and the industrial strands.The focus of the circulation of experimental and engineering results, materials, innovations, and ideas for applications thusprivileged modes of interpenetration between the university and NanoInc Ink strands during the period 2001 and 2005 . Here, theDip-Pen was transformed from a research instrument into a tool, possessing broader horizons and characterized by robustnessand standardization of use. During this temporal segment, university laboratories and scientific research constituted the principalmarket outlet for the rapidly improved Dip-Pen lithographic tool. At this time it became capable of quickly producing chemicallyand geometrically complex nano patterns for exploring physical properties, and a platform for biological research.In the third post 2005 trajectory of the Dip-Pen, circulation of information between enterprise and university persist but duringthis period, industry assumes leadership. NanoInk representatives visit customer university laboratories to identify promisingprocedures, questions and techniques pursued locally that had not occurred inside NanoInk. These projects are then selectivelyfinanced at the laboratory level, and if worth wild they are then transferred to NanoInk for further developments. Expectationswere here split between exigencies of market considerations and the need to react through efforts of internal transformations.NanoInk established five divisions designed to anticipate and satisfy societal demand. This took a variety of forms extendingfrom the earlier mentioned detection systems to counterfeit-proof inscription techniques and a new range of tools intended for awide diffusion of nano related competence and more broadly the appreciation and comfort with things nanoscopic at the publiclevel. This latter assumes the form of a “nanofication” of society through inclusion of high school and professional programs. Inthis fashion the societal element constitutes an imposing determinant for the technological and policy horizons of this university,industry, government experience.In the case of the university/ industry/government connexions surrounding Dip-Pen nanolithography, it is clear that at severaljunctions, societal considerations prove central. In view of this, we have argued that it is enriching to understand this episode inMadrid, October 20, 21 & 22 - 2010308